


Epithet

by Euterpe



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Female Character, F/F, Jason Has a Band, Multi, fem!Orpheus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-27
Updated: 2016-05-27
Packaged: 2018-06-05 16:24:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6712402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Euterpe/pseuds/Euterpe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Orpheus wished she knew what her parents were thinking when they named her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Epithet

**Author's Note:**

> I felt like this had to be done.

Orpheus wished she knew what her parents were thinking when they named her.

She knows it's the name of her father's ancient ancestor who was good at music. She gets that. Her mom was a pianist and her dad was obsessed with his heritage. She just wishes that they would've chosen something less...masculine.

Not that there was anything wrong with having a name like "Orpheus," but there was everything wrong with  _herself_  having a name like "Orpheus." Elementary school was actual hell. The other kids inevitably made fun of her, the teachers stared at her incredulously during roll call, she couldn't bring herself to raise her hand in fear of hearing the dreaded three syllables in classit was an experience she would never want to live through again.

It got a little better in middle school. In middle school, Orpheus joined the band, and it wasn't long until she immersed herself in music. She was alarmingly proficient at any instrument she picked up, but she developed a special affinity for the harp. Her mother didn't hesitate to sign her up for lessons, and despite the fact that she was still getting teased at school, Orpheus felt like she now had something to, colloquially, "block out the haters."

Then she entered high school, and that's where she met Jason.

He approached her first during jazz band on a Monday, when she was tinkering away at the piano and he had just packed up his guitar. Jason was a year older than her. He walked with a confident swagger, as if he memorized a map of the entire school just to lord it over the freshmen. His hair was never without gel, he had a piercing in his left ear, and all Orpheus could think about when he sat beside her on the bench was that his eyebrows were shaped like bat wings.

"My name's Jason," he said unceremoniously, "and I'm starting a band. We're called 'Jason and the Argonauts.'"

"Oh," said Orpheus. "Cool."

"So we're still missing a keyboardist. And you sounded pretty damn good in practice." Then he did a thing where he wiggled his eyebrows, and Orpheus thought more than ever that they definitely looked like bat wings. Jason grinned. "You like alternative rock?"

Orpheus blinked. Jason was exactly the type of person her dad had warned her against. It wasn't that he exuded a stereotypical "bad boy" aura (which he actually didn't); it was moreso that he was trying to rope Orpheus into something she had zero experience with. But her mom had always said that anyone who was a friend of music was a friend of hers, and Orpheus took more after her mom anyway. And, well, it didn't hurt to try new things.

"Can I, uh, can I think about it?" she asked.

"Can you think about if you like alternative rock?"

Orpheus looked away to her hands. "No, I meant if I could think about...you know, joining your band. If that's what you were implying." 

"Oh, yeah, definitely!" exclaimed Jason. "Tell me ASAP when you make up your mind, though. I'll find you again next practice, um..."

"Orpheus." She steeled herself and waited for him to flinch.

He didn't. "Alright, see you next practice, Orph!" Jason stood up from the bench before she could say anything else and left.

Her father was, of course, opposed to it. When she had brought it up over dinner that night, he had come up with five reasons on the spot for why she should not join. But then her mother cleared her throat and casually mentioned that Gus, she was in a band when she was in high school too, you know. And so Orpheus found herself after school on Wednesday staring at the other four members of Jason and the Argonauts.

"This," said Jason, pointing at a wall of muscle who was supposed to be the drummer, "is Herc. He’s also on the football team, but he’s got a great ear for rhythm.” Herc smiled and waved at Orpheus. He seemed friendly, but she had no doubt that he could probably take down a lion with his bare hands.

“And this,” Jason continued, “is Mel. He’s my best bud and the lead guitarist.” Jason slapped the back of a scrawny, dark-haired boy with round glasses. With the strap of his oversized guitar hanging off his neck, Mel almost seemed like a plastic toy.

“Nice to meet you,” said Mel, his voice barely a whisper. Orpheus shook his clammy hand.

Finally, Jason gestured toward a girl in the back, who was giving Orpheus a death glare. Frankly, she terrified Orpheus much more than Herc did. “That’s Atty. She’s Mel’s overprotective girlfriend and our bassist.”

“It’s Atalanta,” corrected the bassist, spitting out her own name as if it was something unpleasant.

Jason ignored her. "And of course," he said, "I do guitar and vocals." His bat-winged eyebrows wiggled up and down. "So what about you, Orph? You play anything besides the piano?"

"Uh, the harp"

"The harp?" said Jason. "Dude, that's sick! Mel, do you think we can work a harp into our program?"

Mel shrugged. "It's not impossible. Uncommon, but not impossible."

"Perfect!" Jason grinned with the excitement of a twelve-year-old boy at a video game store. "Welcome to the Argonauts, Orph!"

"Yeah, yeah, okay," said Atalanta from her corner, "but where are we supposed to get a fucking harp?"

Jason grimaced at Atalanta, as if this thought had already occurred to him and she was too obtuse to realize that. "I'm sure Orph has her own harp. Right?"

"I do," Orpheus replied, "but, well, it's kinda hard to move around...?" She suddenly found the maroon wallpaper behind Jason's head a thousand times more interesting.

"Why can't we just practice at your place then?" asked Jason, unfazed.

Mel whispered something along the lines of "I don't think that's a good idea" at the same time as Atalanta yelled, "What are you, Jason, an idiot?" The room was silent as Orpheus awkwardly glanced from Jason to Mel to Atalanta and back to Jason's scrunched forehead. Finally, Mel told him that the idea wasn't practical because a) they had no idea that Orpheus' parents would be okay with it; b) all of their other equipment, like Herc's drum set, would still be in the school band room; and c) they still needed a keyboardist. So Jason threw his hands up in defeat, but he didn't seem too disappointed.

None of them were really disappointed, actually, when they heard Orpheus play on Jason's brother's old Yamaha keyboard. She improvised, letting the arpeggios guide her wrists and the trills roll from her fingertips. It wasn't what she would describe as  _alternative rock_ , but it was what she was familiar with, what she felt the most natural performing on a second-hand keyboard with a stuck middle E. Orpheus couldn't pinpoint exactly when the Argonauts decided to join in, but soon she heard Herc drop a syncopated beat against her melody, and it evolved into something new, something exhilarating. And when Atalanta and Mel added their own layers, when Jason crooned meaningless words into a microphone Orpheus hadn't even noticed was plugged in - hell, they sounded good. They sounded so good. Jason's band had transformed Orpheus' music, her pride and joy, into a swirling ballad with jagged edges and glossy undertones.

Orpheus felt like she was breathing for the first time, playing with this strange group of mismatched teenagers who weren't so mismatched after all, who felt every reverberation in tandem, who shared the same giant, encompassing heart and the same giant, encompassing heartbeat. It wasn't anything like Orpheus had ever experienced before. And this, well.

This was music.

It only got better after Orpheus told them about all the other instruments she could play. Jason looked like he had just won the lottery, and Herc spoke for the first time that day when he joked that Orpheus could start a band by herself. She was happy, so happy. Orpheus didn't just belong with the Argonauts; they  _needed_ her. Like she needed friends who would understand her passion. Like she needed them.

It couldn't be more perfect.


End file.
